Klog Chat: How Early Should You Introduce Kids to Skin Care?

Welcome to Klog Chat, a series where we ask you to tell us how you do skin care and beauty. Here, we want you to share your thoughts on skin care for kids. How early do you think kids should start using skin care? Is it ever too early? What are the essential products kids should start using and at what age?

Hi, it’s Renee! Today we’re wondering: When do you introduce your child to skin care? It seems like these days parents are letting their kids play a big part in their pampering sessions. For example, in one Beauty Diary, this mom actually shares her nighttime routine with her six-year-old daughter. An excerpt:

“I help my daughter rinse her face with water and then apply Cetaphil’s Gentle Skin Cleanser. After rinsing, she pats her skin dry with her hands (I’m such a proud mama) while I press three layers of Klairs Supple Preparation Toner into my skin, focusing on my cheeks and cheek bones. I help daughter apply a thin layer of Cetaphil’s Daily Facial Moisturizer, a thick coat of Aquaphor’s Healing Ointment to her lips […]”

I have two vivid memories involving skin care when I was a kid. The first is being super young—maybe around five-years-old—and my mom drilled into my mind the importance of hydrating my skin. Every single time I would get out of the shower her immediate call to me to “make sure I put lotion on” was almost robotic. Her claims that I would get “alligator skin” if I didn’t always put lotion on right after I get out of the shower was ingrained in me. Now, I don’t ever, ever leave a shower without slathering my still damp skin in ample amounts of body lotion. (My mom is a frugal woman, but lotion is something she would never skimp on.) I even give girls at the gym major side eye when I see them go straight from the shower to putting on their clothes. The horror!

The second memory I have is coming back from a day at the beach with my friends when I was around 13. I didn’t wear sunscreen. I walked into the house with what I thought was a nice, dark tan (something I coveted when I was young and, well, dumb). It was actually a deep, red sunburn. “How could you not wear sunscreen?!” My father bellowed this at me once he saw the sad state my skin was in. My sunburn wasn’t a big deal to me, but for my father, a man who has had to get many cancerous spots removed from his skin, this was absolutely no joke. I never went to the beach without wearing sunscreen again. And of course today, being a beauty editor, I can’t even walk out of the office for a quick five minute coffee break without reapplying my SPF50.

These days, when it comes to skin care for kids, we’re hearing from a lot of parents who really try to teach their kids the importance of a proper double cleanse, using a moisturizer. These parents actually give them guidance on how to treat their teenage acne that goes beyond taking them to the Neutrogena aisle in the drugstore. Case in point: In our interview with PDXBeautiful, she talks about all the DIY acne masks she does with her 17-year-old son to help alleviate his acne.

OK, your turn! When do you (or would you) introduce skin care to your kids? At what age? What products do you start with? Share your thoughts in the comments below!